Toys that pose a choking risk were on display at the California Public Interest Research Group's news conference at UCSF.

Photo: Beck Diefenbach, Special To The Chronicle

Toys that pose a choking risk were on display at the California...

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Jon Fox of the California Public Interest Research Group demonstrates the current test for determining choke hazards.

Photo: Beck Diefenbach, Special To The Chronicle

Jon Fox of the California Public Interest Research Group...

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Choking hazard toys were on display during a news conference by the California Public Interest Research Group at the University of California San Francisco's Parnassus campus on Tuesday, November 20, 2012 in San Francisco, Calif.

Photo: Beck Diefenbach, Special To The Chronicle

Choking hazard toys were on display during a news conference by the...

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The danger of very strong rare earth magnet toys is demonstrated during a news conference by the California Public Interest Research Group at the University of California San Francisco's Parnassus campus on Tuesday, November 20, 2012 in San Francisco, Calif.

Photo: Beck Diefenbach, Special To The Chronicle

The danger of very strong rare earth magnet toys is demonstrated...

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Jon Fox, of the California Public Interest Research Group, discusses the details of the PIRG's latest report "Trouble in Toyland" during a news conference at the University of California San Francisco's Parnassus campus on Tuesday, November 20, 2012 in San Francisco, Calif.

As Black Friday approaches, a consumer advocacy group has this advice for holiday shoppers: Beware of toys - like magnets, race cars and balloons - that could harm instead of entertain your children.

The annual report, released Tuesday by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, said new consumer protection laws have made toys manufactured these days much safer than the hundreds of hazardous children's products that were recalled before the laws were enacted.

But there are still toys on store shelves that appear to pose health hazards, because they are tiny enough to swallow, loud enough to deafen young ears or dangerous in some other way, the group said.

Of roughly 250 kinds of toys tested nationwide in 2012, the organization found seven that violated state or federal safety standards. It also found four toys that were potential violations and three that did not meet federal recommendations.

"While toys have gotten safer, parents and caretakers still need to be aware and double-check the safety of the toys they purchase this holiday season," said Jon Fox, a consumer advocate for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group's California chapter.

Toys that violated the law included race cars, bowling games and golfing games with parts small enough to be choking hazards andwarning labels too small to clearly read. The group also singled out balloons, which the law says should be sold to children ages 8 and above, but in some cases were targeted at 1- and 2-year-olds. Children can choke on deflated or broken balloons.

Powerful magnet toys that a child can break into small pieces also pose a choking danger to children, the group said. Those include Buckyballs, which were discontinued in October because of pressure from health and consumer advocates, and "snake eggs," which are considered safe under federal guidelines but are, in fact, small enough to swallow, the group said.

From 2009 to 2011, 1,700 people were treated in hospital emergency rooms nationwide after ingesting high-powered magnets, according to federal estimates.

If left in a person's body, these objects can eat through tissue and invoke fever, pain and infection, said Michael Cabana, a UCSF professor of pediatrics, epidemiology and biostatistics.

Other potentially dangerous products noted in the report included a "Dora the Explorer"-themed guitar and a car horn that emit noises louder than federally recommended levels.

But toys are on the whole much safer, federal officials said, in large part due to the 2008 Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. It set stronger regulations on children's products, including stricter limits on lead.

The federal law was developed after 276 toys and other children's products were recalled in 2007 because of safety hazards - a more than 80 percent increase over the previous year. Most of them had paint with excessively high levels of lead and almost all were made in China.